1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to music training devices and more particularly to a training device used in practicing the bowing of a string instrument such as a violin, viola, or cello.
2. Description of Related Art
A bow used for bowing a stringed musical instruments takes its name in all languages from the fact that it originally was shaped like the bow used in archery. The modern bow for stringed instruments is formed with a long tapered and slightly inwardly curved horsehair-supporting shaft or stick usually made of Pernambuco wood or fiberglass. One end of a flat ribbon formed of a plurality of horsehairs is attached to the distal end or tip of this stick by inserting the end of the ribbon of horsehair in a hole in the stick and fixing it in place with a wood plug. The ribbon of horsehair is then tightly pulled against the spring of the stick (much like an archery bow) and then attached to the other end of the stick by using a sliding component of the bow, commonly known as a frog. The frog is a small, generally rectangularly-shaped block of ebony wood or plastic supported on the underside of the stick near the end of the stick close to the point at which the musician holds the bow. The ribbon of horsehair is passed in an evenly manner through a metal ferrule in the frog and then a screw mechanism at the end of the bow is selectively turned to loosen or tighten the ribbon of horsehair against the spring of the stick.
Stringed musical instruments produce their tone or sound when the ribbon of horsehair on the bow is drawn across the strings of the musical instrument. The ribbon of horsehair on the bow is typically coated with powdered rosin which renders the horsehair tacky or sticky for vibrating the string on the musical instrument and creating a sound or tone as the rosined ribbon of horsehair is selectively drawn across the strings. The sound is best produced on a string instrument by a musician when the latter moves the bow at an angle precisely perpendicular to the strings and when the point of contact or sounding point between the ribbon of horsehair and the strings is essentially one inch from the wooden bridge on the instrument which supports the strings. Bowing along a path that is essentially, and preferably precisely, perpendicular to the strings while maintaining an immoveable or fixed sounding point with respect to the string-supporting bridge on the string instrument are essential elements required for the proper playing of a string instrument. The teaching and learning of this precise movement of the bow along with maintaining a fixed sounding point have been particularly difficult to achieve.
Devices have been previously developed for practice bowing perpendicular to the strings on musical instruments. However, none of these previously developed devices have the capability of teaching the musical student the skill of bowing perpendicular to the strings while simultaneously maintaining an immoveable sounding point. These previously developed practice devices commonly used guide posts of metal or plastic attached to the top of the stringed musical instrument, usually a violin. One such previous practice device utilized a pair of parallel metal, wicket-shaped guide posts that are attached to a violin with plastic fittings. In the use of this device, the player draws a real bow over the strings of the violin along a path located between the metal guides. Another previous practice device required the mounting of a pair of plastic vertical rods on the violin by employing adhesive straps positioned about the body of the violin. Using this practice device, the player draws a real bow over the strings of the instrument between the plastic rods.
The previously known bowing practice devices such as described above each suffer some shortcomings or drawbacks which detract from their use as a bowing practice device. For example, the guide posts and the vertical rods of the above-described practice devices provide too much leeway in allowing the bow to easily deviate from a precise sounding point on the string and also in allowing the bow to excessively fluctuate from a bowing path that is perpendicular to the strings on the musical instrument. These previously known practice devices have also been found to allow string crossing so as to further complicate the intended purpose of these devices. Further, these previously known practice devices are cumbersome to attach to musical instruments and may, in fact, damage a string instrument of value so as to limit their use on relatively inexpensive string instruments.
All previously known bowing practice devices require the use of both the string instrument and a real sound-producing bow and can be attached to violins of standard sizes (full size, 3/4 size, 1/2 size, 1/4 size, 1/8 size, 1/16 size) and may be adapted to fit very small violas. However, these previously known practice devices cannot be adequately adjusted to fit a larger standard size viola and the attachment thereof to a cello of any size has been found to be impossible. Another shortcoming with these previously known practice devices is that they can not be readily stored in a standard instrument case for easy transport and accessibility thereof.